Here is the statement of purpose of the MINAMATA Tokyo
Exposition (Minamata
Tokyo Ten). As a member of the MINAMATA Tokyo Exposition
Planning
Committee, I would like to ask you agreat favor: would you be
kind to print
it out (below the dotted line) and give it to your friends
and/or students
who might find it interesting? Thank you for your help.

Minamata disease, widely known as a symbol of industrial
pollution, was
discovered in a corner of southern Kyushu in 1956, the year
the White Paper
on the Economy proclaimed "the postwar period is over." Since
then, through
victims' movements and through court cases, studies, and
research, the
outlines of the Minamata disease incident have gradually
become clearer.
For those of us who are neither direct victims nor direct
perpetrators, it
is extremely rich in suggestions about our society.

The technological level of Chisso, the company which caused
the disease,
was world class. The substance produced in Chisso's
production process
which caused the disease, methyl mercury, does not exist in
nature. It is a
deadly poison that kills human beings even in tiny amounts.
Minamata Bay
and the Shiranui Sea were a veritable treasure house of fish
and shellfish,
the staple food of coastal fisherfolk. Chisso's production
continued until
it had poured more than enough mercury into the sea to kill
all hundred
million Japanese twice over.

It was not only Chisso that knew the cause and concealed it.
The government
authorities of Japan, which boasted of being a modern
democratic state,
fearing the spread of the problem to other companies using
the same
process, harm to the chemical industry, and delays to its
own
industrialization policy, protected the company causing the
disease. This
made the outbreak of Niigata Minamata disease virtually
inevitable. One
example of this government response was the use of police
power against
victims seeking a halt to the dumping of waste water and an
apology.
Citizens, too, merely frowned at the impoverished victims,
and not even
progressive forces or religious figures attempted to extend a
helping hand.

More recently, in the name of ensuring the continuation of
compensation
payments, the government has provided continuing financial
assistance to
Chisso. At the same time, by mobilizing medical authorities
to narrow the
definition of Minamata disease, it continues to refuse to
recognize the
suffering of over 10,000 victims.

Even now, when the need for global environmental protection
is widely
noted, there has been no fundamental change in this
structure. These facts
impel us to reexamine the character of corporations, the
state, science,
and the whole of modern society.

Yet it is an undeniable fact that the growth of the chemical
industry,
Japan's economic development, and our "convenient and
abundant life" have
been brought about by economic activity and technological
development such
as that of Chisso, which caused Minamata disease. And this is
not true only
in Japan. Throughout the world, the competition to
industrialize and to
raise the level of industry is giving rise to innumerable
"Minamata
diseases." Even aside from Minamata disease, there are
innumerable examples
of the contradictions and crises brought by this "system of
democratic
states based on industrial production and modern science."
Yet no one has a
concrete plan for going beyond this, and society's sickness
silently
worsens. The pursuit of the greatest good for the greatest
number not only
gives rise to severe repression against minorities. It is
also beginning to
result in a weakening of modern women's and men's sense of
self and sense
of connectedness with others.

Japan, 1996. This is the sort of age in which we live.

Looking back, though, we see that we have been supported and
encouraged by
the gentleness and strength of those who had the courage to
lift their
voices from the extremes of suffering, alienation, and
poverty. Listening
to the words of these people and looking once again at
Minamata disease
will help us in considering how we should lead our lives from
now on. We
want to read again all of the accounts, research, and records
of Minamata
disease, lay out the facts clearly, and pass all of this on
to those now
living.

On the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of the official
discovery of
Minamata disease, we are holding a "MINAMATA Exposition." We
of the
planning committee ask from the bottom of our hearts for your
participation
and assistance.

These words distill forty years of experience. We seek to
comprehend the
weight of the experience behind each of these words. This is
the starting
point of the "MINAMATA Tokyo Exposition."

I farm with very few chemicals in order that Minamata disease
patients do
not become the cause of disease themselves, and I will be
very pleased if I
have a chance to discuss this.
Igawa Taiji(Meshima)

We must win our court case for the patients who follow us,
and the MINAMATA
Tokyo Exposition is important in mobilizing public
opinion.
Iwamoto Natsuyoshi(Osaka, deceased)

Through my experience in the war, I realized in a very
concrete way how
terrible the wrong type of education is. I hope you will work
with the
Koshokan to tell the truth about Minamata disease.
Iwamoto Hiroki(Meshima)

It was not only fish and cats and people; the sea itself was
also stricken
with Minamata disease. So we must go beyond questions of
perpetrator and
victim to reconsider the crimes we human beings have
committed in cutting
ourselves off from nature.
Ogata Masato(Meshima)

I want you to make the exposition an interim examination on
how well we in
our whole Minamata struggle have defined the issues and
recovered our
individual dignity.
Kawamoto Teruo(Tsukinoura)

You can not see the real situation without coming to
Minamata. I hope the
people putting on the MINAMATA exposition will come and see
things with
their own eyes.
Sakamoto Shinobu(Yudo)

I want you to let the public know that there can be no out of
settlement of
the Minamata disease issue as long as Chisso and the
government do not
fully recognize how much the patients have suffered for so
many years.
Sasaki Kiyoto(Meshima)

It has been a long time since I've been in Tokyo. It has
already been 20
years since our sit-in of a year and nine months. A great
deal has happened
since then, and I look forward to seeing everyone.
Sato Takeharu(Modo)

I am grateful for your concern for the souls of Minamata
including human
and non-human. After wandering in the abyss of death, I come
to realize
that I am being sustained by them to live on. I will
participate in the
exposition, hoping it will be a fruitful meeting.
Sugimoto Eiko(Modo)

A great many people and living things have died of Minamata
disease, so we
must strive like you to attempt to comfort their souls.
Sumimoto Eiichi(Tanoura)

At that time, Minamata disease resembled the problems of
discriminated
buraku, and showed the worst aspects of this world. We need
to talk about
how to live so as to turn this negative situation into
something positive.
Tanoue Yoshiharu(Kaminokawa)

I can not walk any more, and there are things I do not want
to talk about,
but it is important for people throughout the country, and
people
throughout the world, to know about them so that Minamata
disease never
happens again.
Hamamoto Tsuginori(Detsuki)

We did not leave the Shiranui Sea because we wanted to get
away from it. I
hope you will listen to the voices of patients like us
outside the
prefecture.
Haratake Chishio(Nagoya)

For those of us who are not officially certified, it is
important that the
government's responsibility be recognized. It would help us
if the
activities of the MINAMATA exposition clarified it.
Matsumura Moriyoshi(Goshonoura)
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